NDP MLA Dave Wilson’s Open Letter to NS Film Industry

Nova Scotia MLA Dave Wilson, who is in the midst of a campaign for the leadership of the provincial New Democratic Party, has issued a very personal open letter to workers in Nova Scotia’s film and television industry, which has been decimated in the nine months since the April 2015 budget of the Liberal government of Stephen McNeil got rid of the Nova Scotia Film Industry Tax Credit and Film and Creative Industries Nova Scotia (the Crown agency that managed the film industry in Nova Scotia), and replaced it with a capped incentive fund managed by Nova Scotia Business Incorporated. Wilson references one letter in particular that he received as an indication of just how hard things have been for the people affected by the drastic cuts. “There is one letter that I recall often,” he writes. “It’s a child’s drawing. A self portrait with a great big sad face. And the kid writes ‘Please keep film ind-us-trees. Because my dad works there. I want to stay.’ That child should be outside playing, not writing letters to politicians, worried about their parents. It’s been a tough year for you.”

Despite the setbacks, however, Wilson strongly encourages film workers to continue the fight to save their industry, and vows to stand with them. Here are some quotes: